


The Summer of Seventeen

by lifeisloud



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M, PeterMJ - Freeform, Spider-Man - Freeform, Spideychelle, spiderman - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2019-11-19 07:30:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18132755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeisloud/pseuds/lifeisloud
Summary: While most teens were spending their summer swimming at the public pool, traveling to exotic locations with their parents, or in the case of Flash Thompson in summer school, Peter was spending his summer training. Peter expects long exhausting days, aching limbs, and spending most of the summer severely bruised. But what he doesn’t expect from his summer at the Avenger’s compound is Michelle Jones.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first full-length fic and I am very excited about it, so please be gentle with my heart.

 

Peter had been to the Avengers compound numerous times but this time was different. This time he wouldn’t be going home to May at the end of the day, he was going to be spending the entirety of summer training at the compound. Tony had brought the idea up to him a little over a month ago, saying that it could be beneficial for him to work on his fighting with an expert. Peter had agreed, because since being bitten by that radioactive spider he had kind of just been winging it, and it had almost gotten him killed a few times, formal training was probably a good idea. Both his best friend, Ned Leeds, and his guardian Aunt May agreed with him. He also thought it’d be a bit more exciting than just hanging around the apartment doing nothing but eating, playing video games, and having movie marathons all summer. 

 

“You ok kid? You haven’t said a word on the way up?” Happy looks at Peter curiously through the rearview mirror. “And that’s  _ very  _ unusual for you.” He adds with a dry laugh. Peter laughs nervously, eyes shifting from the quick-moving scenery right outside the town car window. 

 

“Yeah, um, just a bit nervous.” He replies, rubbing the back of his neck. Happy laughs from the front seat catching Peter a little off guard. 

 

“Considering who they assigned you to, that’s not surprising.” Happy jokes but Peter doesn’t get it, he scrunches his eyebrows together. Realization flickers across Happy’s face and he quickly glances back at the road. “They didn’t tell you?” Happy questions but he continues to actively avoid eye contact with Peter. To lessen his anxiety Peter chalks it up to him wanting to keep his eyes on the road. Happy doesn’t say anything else for the rest of the ride, and as they pull onto the sprawling property that is the Avengers compound Peter’s heart nearly beats straight out of his chest. 

 

Happy pulls to a stop in front of the main entrance of the compound where, surprisingly, Tony is waiting out front. He looks giddy and this immediately concerns Peter. 

 

“Kid, glad we could make this happen.” Tony claps a hand on Peter’s shoulder as Happy pulls Peter’s bags from the trunk of the car. Peter laughs nervously and nods his head. “Come on I’ll show you to your room.” Tony leads Peter inside with Happy trailing closely behind them. Tony drones on while Peter completely tunes him out, everything around him felt out of focus and blurry in front of him. His nerves were really starting to get to him. Peter doesn’t snap out of it until they stop in front of a black metallic door, with name plaque beside the door, it has Peter’s name on it. Peter’s nerves subside to slight excitement, he briefly forgets about having to meet his trainer in about an hour, his excitement to see where he will be living for the next few months, was beginning to outweigh his nerves, but just a tiny bit. Tony grins mischievously at Peter as he reaches around him to push the door open for him.  

 

The wind is knocked out of Peter as soon as the door swings open. “Holy  _ shit. _ ” The curse word just slips out as he takes in the room. He can hear Tony chuckle and saying something but he doesn’t quite process what it is that he says, he’s too busy being absolutely dumbfounded at his room. Peter had been expecting a small dorm-like room this was more like a penthouse suite, nothing like rooms he had previously seen on the compound, that he had previously  _ stayed  _ in. Tony takes notice of Peter’s shock and provides some clarity. 

 

“Long term rooms are larger than the one-nighters you have stayed in before,” Tony informs Peter, and Peter nods absentmindedly still trying to process this room. Directly in front of Peter was a whole wall of floor to ceiling windows overlooking the sprawling land of the Avengers compound, what he could see was mostly forest but from the height that they were at it was breathtaking. There was a plush looking king size bed in the middle of the room with more pillows on it than any one person could ever need, it all white sheets and shiny black headboard, it looked too pristine to sleep in. There was a black wardrobe in the corner of the room on the adjacent wall, and a giant flat screen tv in the middle of the same wall. Peter could see a bathroom door but was way too overwhelmed already to be bothered by a simple bathroom. “Will this do for the summer?” Tony asks following Peter as he walks further into the bedroom. 

 

“You’re kidding right?” Peter laughs turning to look at Tony in disbelief. But Tony looks dead serious. Peter clears his throat and nods, rubbing the back of his neck suddenly nervous and clammy once again. “Uh, yeah it’ll do.” He confirms nodding too much to appear as a normal human would, he probably looked like a damn bobblehead. 

 

“Great!” Tony claps his hands together in front of him turning to Happy who had put Peter’s bags down right by the door. “We’ll leave you to get settled in, your first train session is in about an hour if you need help finding your way to the training room just ask Friday,” Tony tells him, again Peter nods gulping nervously as Tony leaves him alone in his gigantic room. 

 

Peter lets out a deep breath wandering over to the wall of windows, he could see a few people walking the ground in groups and he suddenly feels very alone. He pulls his phone from his pocket moving to his favorites in his contact book. He debates between the top two names in his contacts and settles on calling his Aunt May first to let her know he’s arrived safely. She picks up after two rings. 

 

“Peter!” May greets Peter excitedly, hearing May’s voice immediately puts Peter at ease. “You made it there ok?” She asks, Peter feels a tiny pang in his chest, he missed her already, she had been so cool about all of this Spidey stuff, supportive in a way that only May could be. 

 

“Yeah, I made it ok.” Peter tries to sound not worried, he isn’t worried, he  _ shouldn’t  _ be worried. This was going to be fun. He knew it. He rubs the back of his neck, doing his best to suppress a deep sigh. 

 

“You’re nervous about your first training session aren’t you?” May question and Peter can already tell she is giving that look that she always does when she knows he’s holding something back. That look was part of the reason why Peter could hardly get away with anything growing up, that and the fact that Peter was just a terrible liar. 

 

“Yes.” Peter sighs heavily plopping down on the bed, he bounces more than he expects to before his butt settles in the bed, he leans back into the bed pinching the bridge of his nose. 

 

“Well, sweetie don’t be you’re going to be great.” May encourages, these words barely helped ease Peter’s nerves as she was his aunt she’d say anything to make him feel better even if she didn’t truly believe it, although he knew that she meant what she said. 

 

“Thanks, May.” His response is weak and mumbly, Peter knows that she notices it but she doesn’t say anything about it, instead she just continues talking about this new recipe she had found online that she was going to try to make for herself tonight. Peter doesn’t have to say another word for the rest of the phone call as May goes on one of her usual tangents jumping from topic to topic until she announces that she needs to because she has to go do laundry. 

 

“Stay safe Peter, and call me every day.” She tells Peter as they get ready to end the call. 

 

“Ok I will, I love you May.” Peter sits up in the bed staring out the window as he waits for her reply. 

 

“I love you too Peter, bye!” Peter sighs hanging up the phone before tossing into the pillows on the bed. He sits on the edge of the bed for far too long doing nothing but staring at the wall, only to realize when it's too late that he’s going to  _ be  _ late for his first training session. 

 

“What a great way to start this off.” Peter huffs angrily shooting up off the bed. He pulls a random pair of pants and shirt out of his duffel bag, hopping into the pants as he makes his way over to the door, he nearly falls over doing this, he sheds his shirt and pulls a new one over his head as he turns the doorknob, grabbing his shoes before the door can close behind him. He glances quickly down both ways of the hallway, feeling completely lost. He had never been to this part of the compound and he had no idea how to get where he was going or where it even was he was supposed to be going. Just then as if some kind of miracle Tony rounds the corner of the corridor. 

 

“Hey, kid! You lost?” He questions stopping in front of a frantic Peter. Peter nods breathlessly, and Tony takes him by the shoulder leading him down the corridor. Tony makes idle chatter but Peter is so nervous that it all sounds muffled and far away. 

 

They stop in front of a metallic door, with a plaque that says training room, this door was much bigger than the door to his room had been, much more daunting. Peter could hear muffled grunts coming from the other side of the door, Tony looks down at him eyebrows raised. Then something bangs against the door making Peter flinch, Tony on the other hand laughs. Peter felt as if he was about to be thrown to literal wolves as Tony goes to swing the door open. The grunting from the other side of the door gets louder as the door swings open. 

 

Peter peers nervously inside the room. Two women are sparring inside, he immediately recognizes one as Black Widow, her red hair being completely unmistakable as well as her impeccable fighting skills. The other woman in the room, Peter had never seen before, and he couldn’t see her face as the two of them continued to fight. The only thing Peter can see is her brown curly hair, its pulled back but most of the unruly hair has slipped from its hair tie as she fights. She’s tall, much taller than Peter, and even though he can’t see her face he knows that she is gorgeous. The mystery girl darts forward quickly taking down Black Widow like it was the easiest thing in the world. Nat starts to laugh from the ground. 

 

“I think you need to stop training, soon you’ll be better than me.” Nat comments are the girl helps her off the ground. The girl laughs, her laugh is so soft and Peter can’t believe that such a soft sound is coming from someone who just kicked Black Widow’s ass right in front of him. 

 

“Well, I learned from the best.” She replies with a shrug, and Nat shrugs obviously taking some credit for the girl. Wait, was he going to be training with Black Widow? Peter didn’t know whether he should be even more nervous or slightly relieved considering he at least knew Nat a little bit. Nat catches Peter’s eye from the other side of the room, she smiles at him. 

 

“Hey, Peter.” Nat nods in his direction and Peter picks up a hand to give her a weak wave. Peter mentally groans out how stupid he must look at this exact moment. The girl Nat had been training with does not turn around as Nat greets him, she appeared to be drinking water. Nat glances at her for a second, and suddenly the hair on the back of his neck stands up. The girl leans over picking up a dumbbell from the workout bench in front of her, she lifts it up and then in one swift motion turns around and chucks it directly at Peter’s head. Peter snatches the dumbbell in midair, right before it makes contact with his head. 

 

“What the-” Peter is cut off by impressed clapping. 

 

“Not bad Parker, although your reaction time was a little bit slower than I expected.” Peter’s head is spinning, what the hell had just happened? The girl is scanning Peter’s body up and down, sizing him up Peter decides, he is suddenly very self-conscious, but he needs to think of something to say so he doesn’t look like a dumbass standing there with his mouth hanging open. 

 

“You just chucked a dumbbell at my head,” Peter mumbles incredulously. It was the only thing he could think to say. 1. Because he had just had a stranger chuck a 50-pound dumbbell at his head like it was a crumpled up piece of paper and 2. Because the stranger that had chucked said dumbbell at his head was insanely attractive. She didn’t look that much older than him, if she even was older than him, they could be the same age. Her brown curly hair framed her face perfectly, her brown eyes gleamed teasingly, and the smirk on her face was, well it was hot. 

 

“Wow how very observant of you.” She states flatly, Peter was still stunned, who was this girl? Peter stutters trying to come up with something clever to say back because so far he’s coming across as a bumbling idiot. 

 

“Peter, this is Agent Michelle Jones, she is who you will be training with,” Tony says excitedly, Peter’s heart drops, this is the  _ worst  _ first impression of all time, she probably thought he was the dumbest person alive. Michelle gives Peter a tight-lipped smile, it was a polite gesture but Peter could tell she hadn’t yet made up her mind about him. This was a good sign as far he was concerned. 

 

“Hi, Michelle.” Peter gives his best polite smile holding out his hand for her to shake. She looks down at his hand before looking back up at him. After  _ way  _ too long of awkward eye contact with absolutely no speaking Peter finally puts his hand back down at his sides. 

 

“Let’s get straight into this I have a feeling you’re going to need a  _ lot _ of help.” Michelle sighs leaning over to pick up a towel that was resting on the bench. Again, Peter’s hair stands on end, he bounds forward in two bigs steps grabbing a hold of Michelle’s wrists, bringing her up so that she was standing. She raises her eyebrows at him. “What are you doing?” She asks, Peter glances over at Tony and Nat who were both standing there watching this embarrassing interaction. 

 

“I, um, I thought you were going to throw the other dumbbell,” Peter admits, clearing his throat awkwardly. Michelle laughs lightly also glancing over at Tony and Nat. 

 

“I think your spidey sense might be a little off,” Michelle notes, drawing her eyes back over to look at Peter. She tilts her head to the side, a perplexed look flashing across her face for a second. “I also think you can let go of me now.” She leans forward whispering the last part for just him to hear. Peter chokes instantly letting go of Michelle’s wrist. 

 

“Right, sorry.” Peter backs more than a few steps away from her. 

 

“Can you guys give us the room now?” Michelle turns to look sternly at Nat and Tony. They both act as if they hadn’t been watching the pair interact this whole time. They both nod moving to leave the room. 

 

“Good luck kid.” Peter hears Nat mumble under her breath as they leave, he’s unsure if that is directed at him or Michelle because honestly, it could be either of them. Peter blows out a large breath turning to Michelle, who seems to be off in space. Peter takes this weird length of silence to examine the room, there was plenty of normal gym equipment around the room, but there were also countless other machines that Peter couldn’t even try to guess what they did. There was an elevated platform to the right of them, there was a weird light shining up from it, and Peter thought that it was quite a dramatic decoration choice, but definitely not surprising if Tony was in charge he always had a flair for the dramatics. 

 

“Hop up on the platform,” Michelle commands she points to the platform that Peter had just been examining. Peter obediently steps up onto the platform, watching Michelle carefully, she was fixing her hair pulling it up into a bun on the top of her head. “Tell me something Parker,” Michelle hops up onto the raised platform adjusting some newly applied tape on her fists, wait when did she put those on? “Who do you fight for?” She leans back onto a post at the corner of the platform, he lulling to the side ever so slightly, waiting for his answer.

 

“Is this a test? It feels like a test.” Peter comments nervously, he fidgets, shifting from foot to foot. What if answered wrong? He was going to make a fool of himself, just like he always did when talking to a pretty and intelligent girl. He bites the inside of his cheek trying to think of how he should answer and if this could possibly be some kind of trick. 

 

“Just answer the damn question, Peter.” She lets out a breathy laugh shaking her head. Peter clears his throat and stands up a little straighter. He could be confident, he had a brain, he could answer a simple question without making a complete fool of himself, maybe. 

 

“I fight for the people who can’t fight for themselves,” Peter answers confidently. Michelle’s face remains pretty much unreadable, other than the fact that she was obviously mulling over his answer in her head. After a few seconds of silence, she pushes off the post taking a step toward Peter. 

 

“Noble, but not quite what I meant.” Michelle finally speaks, she stretches as she talks to Peter, his chest feels tight and he swallows roughly. “Who do you go home to Peter?” She asks this question before bending completely forward to touch her toes. He wonders if he should be stretching as well. 

 

“W-Who do I go home to?” Peter echos the question as if it’ll help him understand what she meant by it and how he planned to answer it. It should be easy to answer this question, why was his brain so foggy? Peter takes another large gulp. 

 

“Yeah, who are the  _ most  _ important people in your life?” She clarifies standing up straight looking at Peter expectantly. She crosses her arms across her chest her stretching paused briefly while she waits for Peter to answer her question. While Peter wondered if the walls were closing in around him. Seriously what the hell was going on with him? Michelle tilts her head at him, before sighing. “For example, if you asked me who  _ I  _ fight for I’d say my dad.” Michelle gives this example and suddenly Peter feels a little more grounded in reality. “Don’t worry it’s not a trick question,” Michelle reassures him with a light laugh, moving back to rest by the post. 

 

“Ok, then I’d say I fight for my Aunt May, she raised me after my parents died and I’d do anything to protect her,” Peter admits, Michelle nods, tapping the post with the tips of her fingers. “Oh, and also my best friend Ned,” Peter adds, Michelle, nods slowly once again pushing off the post. “But what does that have to do with training?” Peter questions, he was beginning to feel more like himself, they had shared a tiny fragment of who they were with each other, but it was enough to ease Peter just a little bit. 

 

“Superheroes have the biggest egos,” Michelle states, Peter, scrunches his face scoffing and ready to defend superheroes, though she was pretty spot on about the ego thing, even he could admit he had let the Spider-Man thing get to his head, especially his first year with powers. “Let me finish Parker,” Michelle holds up her hand her voice is firm, laced with annoyance. “They get selfish during battles, they’ll do whatever they have to save people, but think about those you have to go home to and what it would do to them if you didn’t come home,” Michelle explains and suddenly the air has gotten heavy. Peter examines her face carefully, he immediately registers the loss in her eyes, she had lost someone she loved, he recognized that look from his own eyes. “I’m not saying don’t fight your damn hardest  _ but  _ think about the things you do and the consequences those things have,” Michelle explains she looks down at her taped up knuckles clenching and unclenching her fists a few times. Peter’s eyes are cast down in thought, out of the corner of his eye he can see Michelle shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot. Finally, Michelle clears her throat and lifts her head up. “Now,” Michelle smooths her hand over the workout clothes she had on, catching Peter’s attention. “Put em up, Parker.” She smirks, the sadness that had previously been in her eyes fades away but doesn’t disappear completely. A kind of fierceness Peter had never seen before washes over her face, she looks ready to pounce. She lifts her own fists tauntingly, an eyebrow arching. He shoves his thoughts to the side trying to get into a fighting state of mind. 

 

“Wait,” Peter pauses for a second and Michelle groans. 

 

“You’re not going to make a dumbass comment about how you can’t hit me because I’m a girl are you?” Michelle throws her head back in annoyance. Her fists dropping a little her, stance becoming sloppy and underprepared. Peter smirks back at her and shakes his head. 

 

“No, I was just going to say your shoe is untied.” Peter points to Michelle’s shoes which were in fact still tied. Michelle glances down for a quick second checking them and Peter takes this opportunity to spring at her, a simple tackle to the ground was all he was going for. He was trying to impress her with his skills, skills he really did believe he had but it becomes glaringly obvious that Michelle is much much better at this than he is. As Peter comes at her she grabs his outstretched arm bends into her own chest and throws him over her shoulder, Peter’s back slams into the ground with a thud. Michelle leans over him, his arm still in her grip a smirk on her face. 

 

“That was cute Parker, but very amateur.” She notes, she shakes her head clicking her tongue as she watches Peter struggle to get out of her grip. 

 

“How the hell are you so strong?” Peter questions through gritted teeth. Michelle laughs letting go of his hand, it flops down onto his chest and he groans in pain. 

 

“It's not about your strength, it's about how you use it,” Michelle notes she turns her back to Peter stretching out her arms. Peter sits up but doesn’t stand all the way up. “You are definitely stronger than me, but you also underestimated me, and that’s like rule number one,  _ never  _ underestimate your opponent.” She turns back to Peter hands on her hips. “You need to work on your stance, and using your opponent's strengths against them.” Michelle holds her hand out to help Peter up. Peter takes her hand but pulls her hard, flinging her, carefully, over his head. 

 

_“Oof,”_ Michelle grunts as she makes contact with the floor and then she immediately starts laughing. “Ok, I guess I should have seen that one coming,” Michelle admits, she tilts her head up so that she can look at Peter, who has his own head tilted towards her. Peter smiles at her and their gazes hold for a little too long before Michelle clears her throat and sits up abruptly. Peter, confused, follows suit. “Let’s go again,” Michelle announces. “Show me your stance,” Michelle commands, Peter listens putting his fists up. Michelle’s eyes travel up and down his body, carefully examining his body. He gulps nervously as her eyes travel back up to his face. “Your form is awful.” Michelle lets out a pitiful laugh. “Honestly it's truly a wonder you’ve made it this long.” She comments, she grabs his wrist adjusting the position of his arms. Peter tenses a little as Michelle’s hand move down his arms adjusting him. Michelle’s eyes suddenly lock with Peter’s as her hands land on his shoulders, she laughs lightly. “Hey, relax your shoulders a little.” She presses her palms into his shoulders, they were so tight they were nearly pressing against his ears.

 

For the next hour Michelle makes Peter throw punches while she stands to the side and tells him everything he is doing wrong, and by the end of their session, Peter felt like he had been hit by a truck. He was exhausted, he definitely was not expecting this at all. Peter looks over at Michelle as they take a water break, as he looks over at her, she glances back at him letting out another light laugh. 

 

“You look awful Parker.” She teases, taking a sip of water. “Can’t take the heat?” She questions with raised eyebrows. Peter narrows his eyes at her, to which she just laughs.

 

“I can take the heat.” He retorts back but he just sounds like a toddler arguing with his mom about eating cookies before dinner. Michelle puts down her water, eyebrows raised, and body poised for a fight, Peter had a feeling that this was her natural reaction to most things. “But maybe on another day,” Peter adds sheepishly, Michelle laughs nodding her head. 

 

She joins him on the platform, checking her watch. “Ok, that seems like enough for today,” Michelle announces clapping her hands together. “You know you didn’t do nearly as bad as I thought you would,” Michelle admits with an impressed nod. Peter perks up a little at the compliment because he felt like he had done the absolute worst job ever. “Don’t let it go to your head you still need a  _ lot  _ of work.” She adds almost immediately dismissing the compliment she had just given. “But it's what I’m here for, right?” She finishes lightheartedly. “Now get out, I have to get this place cleaned up before I meet my dad for dinner.” She dismisses Peter who quickly scurries out of the training room. Peter feels like his limbs are going to fall off his body. In fact, halfway to his room, he feels like he might just give up and plop down on the floor in the middle of the corridor and take a nap. But deciding he didn’t want to be discovered napping in the corridor by anyone, and he makes it barely to his room. When he finally makes it to his room he falls face first into his bed letting out a loud groan as he lands on the bed. Peter doesn’t even realize it's happening but he falls asleep. He wakes up an hour later, completely confused, and still incredibly sore. He pushes himself off of the bed, where the covers and pillows are now strewn all over the place. He groans as he stands up, he blinks a few times trying to get his vision to clear a little bit blindly searching for his bags in the room. He quickly unpacks his bags and then goes to take a shower. Peter feels like he may cry as lifts his hands to wash his hair, he was never expecting to be this sore. 

 

Peter gets out of the shower and as he dresses his stomach lets out a loud growl and Peter realizes that he hasn’t had anything to eat since breakfast this morning. He sighs pulling his shirt over his head, running a hand through his still wet hair, before leaning over to grab a pair of tennis shoes. He slips into them and then exits his room. Although he really had no idea where he was supposed to be going, his muscles had relaxed quite a bit but he still felt sore. He looks down both ends of the hallway trying to decide which way he was going to choose to go. He decides to go to the left. 

 

He wanders aimlessly down the hall for what feels like years to his aching body, until finally, he hears some voices, a little ways down the hall. He follows the sound to a double door the voices now much louder, they were laughing. Peter almost turns around, he didn’t want to interrupt anyone, but according to the sign beside the door this was, in fact, the kitchen and dining area, and he was so hungry that he decided to just say screw it. He pushes the door opening entering the kitchen, the laughter continues, but Peter can’t see its source. Whoever it is is sitting in the dining area, his view is blocked by a wall separating the actual kitchen from where there must be tables. 

 

The kitchen itself is bigger than Peter’s whole apartment back home, with a lengthy island in the middle of the kitchen and long bar with barstools for seating opposite of the island. On the wall in-between the kitchen and the dining area was a stove and possibly the biggest fridge Peter had ever seen in his entire life. He walks over to the fridge pulling the doors open and peeking inside. The fridge was overflowing with food choices and Peter had no idea what it was that he was going to eat. Just then a noise behind Peter startles him, he whirls around looking for the source, only to find Nick Fury, at the stove scooping something onto a plate that was in his hand. 

 

“Oops, sorry kid didn’t mean to scare you.” Nick laughs and puts his spoon down turning to Peter. “Peter Parker right?” He asks pointing at him. Peter nods, stunned that Nick Fury knew who he was. 

 

Dumbly Peter can only come up with, “Y-your Nick Fury.” He stutters and Fury laughs at him. 

 

“Indeed I am.” Fury confirms with a nod and a laugh. “Oh, you can have some,” Fury points to the pot on the stove that Peter hadn’t noticed before. He walks over to the pot peering into it, spaghetti, he liked spaghetti. “Michelle made it,” Fury comments as he leans against the counter. 

 

“Wait,” Peter pauses hand hovering over a stack of plates on the counter. “Michelle?” Peter questions turning back to Fury who was now stuffing his face with the spaghetti. 

 

“Why do you sound so surprised Parker?” Peter turns to the door as Michelle enters the kitchen an amused look on her face. “Think I can’t cook?” She questions eyebrows raised. 

 

“N-no, it's just that you said you were having dinner with your dad.” Peter points out and Michelle laughs glancing over at Fury. 

 

“Yes and?” Michelle crosses her arms across her chest, joining Fury in leaning against the counter opposite of Peter. 

 

“Wait, Nick Fury is your dad?” Peter asks incredulously, eyes widening. 

 

“I thought Stark said that this kid was sharp?” Fury looks over at Peter with a laugh and Michelle shakes her head. 

 

“That’s what he said but I haven’t seen it yet.” Michelle pushes off of the counter. Peter feels like he should defend himself but he’s far too shocked to form a complete sentence. He stumbles a few times as he begins to try and form a comeback of some kind but fails miserably. 

 

“Why don’t you join us, Peter?” Fury offers both Peter and Michelle glance at each other as Fury offers, and Peter feels his cheeks heat up ever so slightly. He clears his throat and quickly glances away from Michelle. 

 

“Oh, uh, sure,” Peter replies to Fury who smiles widely at him. Michelle rolls her eyes and heads back over to the dining area. Fury follows after her to the dining area, while Peter turns back to the pot. He fixes himself a plate and then moves towards the dining area but he freezes, suddenly nervous. But Michelle leans over in her chair so that her head is poking out and so that she can see Peter. 

 

“Come on Parker we don’t bite.” She waves him over with a small smile, which immediately makes Peter feel at ease. He smiles back at her walking over to the table that they were sat at taking a seat. “Much,” She whispers as Peter sits down smirking as a surprised look flashes across Peter’s face. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a quick warning there is a car accident resulting in death in this chapter.

Her laughter fills the air around Michelle. The sun beams through the car windows broken up by the tree branches hanging over the winding road Michelle and her mom were traveling down. Some cheesy pop song blasting on the radio, it’s muffled and Michelle can’t tell which one it is, but she knows they are singing it at the top of their lungs. They had just spent the day together at the park, they had a picnic. Michelle was young about 7, her mom is her best friend. Suddenly Michelle’s heart starts pounding in her chest, her breathing becomes shallow and panicked, everything is moving in slow motion around her as they round the next curve of the road. She gets a horrible sense of Deja Vu as she spots a familiar car rounding the curve at the same time in the opposite lane, right as they’re about to round the corner, they’re passing the car, at the last minute the car in the other lane swerves directly into them. Michelle screams and so does her mother. Michelle cries out for her mom as glass and metal shards fly through the windows of the car, her cheeks are wet and everything is spinning. Then it's all over. The car is upside down, the sound of settling metal, passing cars, and Michelle’s sobs fill the air. 

 

“Mommy!” Michelle’s tiny hands claw at the seatbelt as she tries to break free of the restraints. Her mom doesn’t respond, but she can see her face. Her eyes are closed head hanging slightly forward, a gash in her head causing blood to drip down her face. Michelle’s own arms are covered in cuts and blood. Michelle thrashes in her seat, kicking and clawing at anything within reach to try and free herself. She hears footsteps approaching the car, and two people whispering. She can’t see them they are way out of her range of view, something tells her to stop moving and go silent. The two voices finishing whispering and then retreat quickly at the sound of sirens and shouting. “Someone please help me!” Michelle cries once again clawing at her seatbelt that was beginning to cut into her. 

 

“There’s a little girl in there!” She hears frantic shouting in the distance which only adds to her own panic. Her chest is getting tighter and tighter as she gasps for air. She just wanted her mom, she just wanted her mom to grab her hand and tell her everything was ok. With a flash of light, seventeen year old Michelle is standing outside of the car watching several people rushing over to the car where seven year old Michelle cries frantically for help and her mother. 

 

Present-day Michelle watches the events unfold just like she had a thousand times before. EMTs pull Michelle from the car, it takes an agonizing amount of time to free her, all the while Michelle wails for her mother, her tiny arms desperately grabbing for the driver’s door as they pull her from the driver's side backseat, her mom still lies unmoving in the driver seat. There are two other EMTs examining her mother, Michelle already knows how this one ends. 

 

Another flash and Michelle is standing in a hospital room watching her younger self fight a nurse, she’s crying for her mom again, no one had told her she won’t be coming. They had called Michelle’s dad, but he wouldn’t be there until tomorrow, he was out of town. Michelle’s dad at this point was basically a stranger to her, in her seven years of living she had only ever seen him twice a year, he was always away on business and he never shared where he was going. Seven year old Michelle sits alone in the hospital all night crying for her mother, nurses coming in and out of the room checking on her, her whole body hurts. Michelle desperately wanted to wake up from this nightmare, one that she had had way too many times. She closes her eyes and then opens them again, this time she was standing in front of her mother’s grave. Tears roll down her cheeks as she drops down to her knees beginning to sob uncontrollably. 

 

“Oh my God.” Michelle gasps as she shoots up in her bed, breathing shallow, and her hair sticking to the back of her neck. Her hands immediately go to her face, alert, checking to make sure she was intact while she was in fact intact, mostly. She glances over at her nightstand, swiping her phone of the nightstand unlocking it to check the time. It was five in the morning, Michelle groans tossing her covers to the side sliding out of bed and padding over to her bathroom. She had been doing good, hadn’t had  _ that  _ dream in over a month, why was it resurfacing now? She sighs as she switches on the sink, glancing over at her reflection in the mirror, her curly hair was in disarray. She was shaken every breath she took wobbled. She leans forward cupping her hands underneath the faucet letting the warm water fill her hands. She splashes the water on her face the warm water relaxes her releasing some of the built-up tension. After she’s done washing her face she wanders over to her dresser pulling out a pair of workout leggings and a sports bra. 

 

Before exiting her room she grabs her zip-up hoodie that was draped over her desk chair. As she grabs her jacket she glances at the framed photo sat on her desk, letting out a deep sigh before quickly turning away, pushing the picture and her nightmare from her mind. She closes the door behind her checking the hallway for any other people, unsurprisingly there was no one in the corridor. She takes a long look out the window directly across from her room door. The sun hadn’t risen yet and the corridor was dark, the only light coming from the lighting sconces hanging on the inside wall by the doors to the rooms. She goes to the kitchen first to grab some breakfast, well a sort of breakfast, just a granola bar, for now, she’d eat a real breakfast after her workout. 

 

Michelle makes her way down to the training room, scrolling through her playlists trying to figure out which one was going to be her soundtrack for today’s workout. She lands on a random pre-made workout playlist. When she gets to the training rooms she puts down her water bottle and grabs the tape to wrap her hands in. She clenches and unclenches her fists when she was done wrapping them, flashes of her dream surfacing as she does so, she shivers rolling her shoulders to release some of the tension building. She unzips her jacket tossing it onto a nearby bench. Then she squares up at one of the punching bags in the room. She throws the first punch fist connecting with the bag sending a familiar feeling up her arm, with each punch she gets more and more aggressive. After her knuckles are sore and bruised MJ decides that that was enough for the day, at least until her training with Peter later. 

 

MJ had originally said no to Stark’s request for her to train Peter over the summer. Well actually she had flat out refused the idea, she didn’t want to spend her summer training some dickhead teen superhero who thought he was better than everyone else just because he had won the powers lotto. But her dad had convinced her it could be fun, and good for  _ her _ training, so she relented and agreed to train Peter. Which she hadn’t yet grown to regret but she was sure at some point this summer she would. 

 

Michelle grabs her towel and water bottle, exiting the training room heading back to her room. She would shower up and then go make herself something to eat. Michelle turns on her shower letting the water heat up while she goes to pick out clothes for the day, which wouldn’t be all that different from what she had been previously wearing, she picks out a new sports bra and black workout leggings but also grabs a white t-shirt. She steps into the shower letting the warm water cascade down her relieving some of the tension built up between her shoulders, her eyelids flutter closed as she tries to relax. She nearly slips as a fragment of her nightmare from last night flashes in her mind her eyes shoot open looking around the shower chest heaving. 

 

Michelle hated those dreams they always knocked her off-kilter for the whole day. During the day it takes almost all of her energy to keep the memories from that day from popping into her head but they always find her in her sleep. On occasion, she’d talk to someone about it but today was not that day, most of the people she would talk about it with were currently away on a mission. Michelle sighs getting out of the shower and drying her hair. 

 

The sun had now fully risen brightening Michelle’s room lifting her mood a little. She wanders over to her desk picking up the framed picture of her and her mother. It had been taken on Michelle’s seventh birthday, they had a party in the backyard all of Michelle’s friends from school had come she remembers how happy she felt that day, even her dad managed to make it that day, he was the one that took the picture. That picture was the last one Michelle ever got to take with her mom the accident happened three days later. Michelle’s throat feels tight, mouth dry like she’s about to cry but she swallows roughly turning away from the picture. She grabs her phone and heads to the kitchen her stomach rumbling. 

 

Her still wet hair falls in front of her face as she prepares her breakfast the only sound in the kitchen was a steady ticking from the clock on the wall. The ticking becomes deafening to Michelle and she almost lobs the avocado she was preparing at the clock but just as she turns around eyes narrowed at the clock she is startled as someone enters the kitchen. 

 

“Oh, uh sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.” Peter apologizes looking sheepish at the kitchen door. Michelle immediately takes note of his disheveled hair and well worn t-shirt, a t-shirt obviously one that he’s spent years sleeping in but what really catches her eye is his pajama pants they had Chewbacca’s head all over them. Peter looks down at his own pants as if the check to see if they had anything on them a curious look on his face, probably trying to figure out why she was looking at him for as long as she was. She clears her throat looking upwards. 

 

“Nice pants.” Michelle remarks as she turns back towards the avocado she was cutting. 

 

“Oh uh,” Michelle doesn’t have to look at him to know that he just glanced down at his pants. “Thanks?” Michelle smiles to herself. 

 

“Do you want some breakfast?” She turns back to find Peter still sat in the same place blinking back at her blankly. She puts the knife down and walks over to Peter jabbing him in the shoulder with her pointer finger. “Hello, earth to Peter.” She muses waving a hand in front of his face, he had barely blinked. Suddenly he snaps out of it blinking back at Michelle like she had just come back into focus. 

 

“Sorry, I’m still kind of asleep.” He tells her shaking his head, he appears to come out of his fog. 

 

“So breakfast?” Michelle offers again gesturing to the counter where she was making avocado toast. Peter’s face scrunches up in disgust and he shakes his head. “What you don’t like avocado toast?” She questions walking back over to the counter where she was still slicing the avocado. 

 

“Not really,” Peter admits with a shrug. He walks over to where Michelle is stood at the counter watching her work intently. “I’m more of a bacon and eggs kind of guy.” He adds, he leans on the counter next to Michelle's she glances up at him eyebrows raised. 

 

“Ok well,” Michelle pauses for a second making sure she really wanted to say what she was about to say. “I can make you some eggs and bacon.” She offers, she speaks slowly kind of unsure of why she was offering to make him breakfast in the first place. 

 

Weirdly, she felt like she needed to look out for Peter. She remembers her first week on the compound, the compound is sprawling and can take a while to feel like an actual home rather than a weird ass spaceship in the middle of nowhere. Maybe part of her just wanted to help him adjust to life here.

 

“Oh, you don’t have to.” Peter waves her off shaking his head. “I don’t want you to go out of your way.” He adds, but as he says no his stomach makes the most awful gurgling sound that Michelle had ever heard. Peter’s eyes go wide while Michelle suppresses a laugh. “Let’s make a deal, if you want to make breakfast for me today then you have to let me make you breakfast tomorrow.” Peter offers, he pauses for a second and then adds. “Because I’ll feel bad if I don’t return the favor.” 

 

“How do I know your food won’t give me food poisoning?” Michelle teases with a smirk turning to look at Peter, eyebrows raised. 

 

“How do I know  _ your  _ food won’t give  _ me  _ food poisoning?” Peter fires back, she shrugs in response turning back to her toast that was now finished. 

 

“Guess you’ll just have to trust me.” She tells him turning around while she takes a bite of her toast. She stares at him for a second before continuing. “Do you trust me?” 

 

Peter doesn’t even hesitate for a second. “Yeah, I trust you.” He states firmly. Michelle is taken aback for a quick second before nodding and turning back to the stove to start his breakfast. An awkward silence settled over the room it had been a while since Michelle had had anyone her age around and she wasn’t quite sure what kind of things regular teens talked about. “So, you like to cook?”  Peter questions after clearing his throat several times.

 

“Uh yeah, my mom and I use to cook together.” Michelle answers, she feels a pang in her chest at the mention of her mother, praying that Peter doesn’t ask about her mother, but of course she isn’t that lucky. 

 

“Use to?” He questions, she knows that Peter isn’t trying to be rude or pry and that he just doesn’t know that her mom isn’t around anymore, but she feels a lump forming in her throat. Michelle swallows thickly trying to focus on whisking the eggs as she goes to answer his question. 

 

“Um yeah she died when I was 7,” Michelle tells him her voice obviously strained as she explained. Michelle hears a small commotion behind her like Peter had knocked something over but she couldn’t turn around, her eyes were stinging with tears that were begging to fall. 

 

“Oh my gosh, Michelle I’m so sorry I didn’t know.” Peter stumbles over his words as well as his feet, he stumbles slightly forward nearly knocking into Michelle but she easily sidesteps out of the way. There is another awkward pause before Peter speaks again. “My parents died when I was young too.” He admits, Michelle turns around to look at him, he had mentioned it briefly to her yesterday she could see in his eyes that he understood her pain, and she felt for him having to go through what she had. 

 

“I’m sorry,” Michelle tells him honestly before turning back around to continue his breakfast. They both remain silent as Michelle finishes up making his breakfast. When she’s done she slides the plate in front of Peter avoiding eye contact with him. Michelle cleans up the kitchen while Peter begins eating. 

 

“Holy shit.” Michelle whips around at Peter’s sudden outburst. “Michelle this is like the best breakfast I’ve ever had in my entire life.” Peter gushes excitedly shoving another forkful of eggs into his mouth. Michelle scrunches up her face while she watches the disgusting display in front of her. 

 

“Ok well savor it because I am never cooking for you again,” Michelle comments rolling her eyes as Peter continues to shove food in his mouth. “Oh, and also you need to clean up.” Michelle gestures to the spot she used to make the breakfast. “Consider it your payment to me for cooking.” Peter pauses eating for a second to stare at Michelle his eyes were narrowed at her like he was trying to figure out if she was being serious. “When you’re done with that meet me in the training room for today’s session.” She turns on her heels exiting the kitchen before he as a chance to say anything else. 

 

Michelle finds herself feeling a little lighter as she makes her way to the training room to set up for the training session. 

 

“What the heck is that?” Peter tilts his head pointing at the object in front of him, Michelle pokes her head out from behind the object, startling Peter in the process. 

 

“This is a state of the art training robot.” Michelle lightly taps the side of the machine smiling up at it. “You said it yourself I don’t have super strength like you do so a few session we’ll be using this guy to prepare you for battles where you’re opponent is stronger than you,” Michelle explains coming out from behind the robot stopping in front of Peter. 

 

“Are you sure this thing won’t kill me?” Peter asks looking up at the robot with uncertainty. Michelle frowns at back at him crossing her arms. 

 

“Peter no it won’t kill you.” Michelle looks back at the robot thoughtfully. “Injure you. Maybe.” Michelle adds with a shrug. Peter looks at her incredulously. “Parker relax it’ll be fine.” She pauses smirking back at him. “Probably.” 

 

“Michelle!” Peter shouts, she laughs shaking her head. 

 

“Peter don’t worry I’ll be controlling it and I won’t let it hurt you.” She reassures him plucking a control tablet from a bench nearby. She waves it at Peter who seems to be slightly more relieved. “That badly.” Again, she smirks at him. Peter rolls his eyes at her. “Get into your fighting stance.” She commands, she clicks on her trainer mode giving Peter a stern look. He immediately straightens readying to fight. “It’s like you’re trying to get maimed.” She comments clicking some buttons on the control panel Peter looks at her in horror. The robot comes in swinging to which Peter dodges. “Watch your shoulders,” She calls to him as he leaps around dodging the robots strikes. “Peter if I have to tell you to tuck one more time, you’ll be running laps until you die,” She yells. As the training session goes on Peter gets hit less and less. 

 

“So how’d I do?” Peter asks landing with ease in front of Michelle. Michelle puts the controller down on the bench beside her looking Peter up and down in thought. 

 

“Drop and give me a thousand.” She demands, she points at the ground looking back at Peter expressionless. His mouth drops open in shock. He starts sputtering, something she has already learned is a very Peter thing to do, she finds this hysterical but does her best to keep that from Peter. 

 

He finally manages a sentence. “What? As in push-ups?” She blinks back at him, folding her arm across her chest. Peter stares back at her not moving to actually do as she had told him to. 

 

“Now, Parker before I die of old age!” She orders him. She uses her big scary voice and Peter jumps. Michelle was a mostly soft-spoken person, her voice hardly ever rose the only times it did rise was when she was ordering someone around or when she was actually angry with someone, but whenever the second one happened she usually cried along with the loud voice. She was an angry cryer and she hated it. “And you’re still just standing here.” She huffs in annoyance. “Starting to think you’d rather just do two thousand push-ups.” She comments, Peter’s eyes widen and he finally drops to the ground to do the push-ups. “Ok, when you’re done with those you’re dismissed.” She walks over to the bench to gather her belongings. She goes to exit the room, Peter still on the ground but pauses right by the door. “Oh, and don’t try to stop before a thousand the robot is programmed to shoot you if you do.” She turns on her heels a smirk on her face at the sound of Peter’s terrified gasp. 

 

MJ leaves the room a smug smirk on her face. She debates on where she should go next, she pauses in the corridor for second contemplating then she decides to go back to her room to clean up and change into some more comfortable clothing. On her way to her room she finds her mind wandering off to Peter in the training room, she does not envy him having to do way too many push-ups, but she kind of didn’t mind having someone her own age to bounce her energy off of she was used to hanging around too serious adults especially on this compound. It was nice having someone younger around and she really didn’t mind Peter not that she would ever tell him so. 

 

Michelle slips into her room immediately pulling off her shirt and tossing it aside going over to her wardrobe to pick out something new to wear. She runs over what it is she has to do for the rest of the day. Finally figuring out that she doesn’t have any actual responsibilities for the rest of the day she decides to just throw on some sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt, her true form, she really hated those tight workout leggings and sports bras she felt much more comfortable in baggy clothing but those weren’t exactly the best things to be in when you’re trying to fight someone. Once she wore sweatpants to train with Nat and she ended up with her back hitting the mat more times than she cared to admit, sweatpants really were a hazard when you’re trying to kick someone's ass. She pulls on the pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. After she’s changed she flops onto her bed reaching over to the nightstand where the book she has been reading rests. She pulls it off the nightstand and opens it to where she last left off. 

 

The book was finished in a matter of minutes and Michelle finds herself disappointed with the ending. She discards the book at her side standing up and walking over to the little mini-fridge at the corner of her room to grab a water. The kitchen was kind of far away and was inconvenient to get to when you were really thirsty and really hungry so she kept a few things in this fridge in case she needed a snack or something to drink in the middle of the night. After taking a few sips of the water she takes that and her book and exits the room. Right as she exits the room she runs smack into Peter and hard he had apparently been running. Michelle is knocked back onto her ass and the book in her hand goes sliding off to the side. 

 

“Oh my gosh,” Peter shakes his head like he’s trying to clear it he was sweaty and out of breath. “Michelle I am so sorry.” He apologizes holding out his hand to help her up off the floor. She stands up leaning back down briefly to grab the book she had dropped. Her butt was a little sore as she moved and Peter was still staring at her apologetically. Suddenly it dawned on her that it was weird for him to be in this wing seeing as her room was the only actually occupied room and other people were rarely found on this side of the compound. 

 

“What are you even doing over here?” Michelle huffs angrily she didn’t actually feel too angry like her tone of voice had suggested and she hadn’t meant it to sound that angry but she was quite annoyed that Peter had yet to explain how he even knew how to get over here or what exactly he was doing running around the corridor at full speed. Her arms were crossed across her chest and she was glaring down at Peter. Maybe he was actually that annoying teenage boy that had no regard for others around him maybe she had misjudged him. Really couldn’t trust anyone except yourself she guessed. 

 

“Oh uh my room,” He pauses taking in another long breath very obviously still trying to gather his breath fighting to breathe at a normal comfortable rate. “It's right there,” He points to the door directly next to Michelle’s room. Michelle frowns out of all the available rooms in this particular wing and others for that matter Tony just had to put Peter in the one right next to hers. She was going to have words with that Tony Stark he was very obviously trying to ruin her summer. 

 

“Oh great,” Michelle huffs she drops her hands to her side rolling her eyes at Peter who appears to shrink back a little bit. Michelle clears her throat pausing for a second. “It's just I didn’t know that you were also in this wing.” She covers, she was slightly annoyed that she hadn’t been informed but it wasn’t like they were sharing a room or anything they were just neighbors. “Welcome to the neighborhood I guess,” Michelle forces an awkward and pitiful laugh. Peter matches her laugh with an equally awkward one. 

 

“I’m sorry for running it's just I promised my aunt I’d call at 3 pm and I don’t want her to worry and I’m already late,” Peter rambles on and Michelle nods listening. She glances down at her phone to check the time it was ten minutes after three. 

 

“Well you better hurry then,” She says looking back up at him. He nods rushing around Michelle and into his room. She sighs continuing down the corridor to her original destination. Michelle finds her mind wandering as she makes her way to her favorite place on the compound, that is other than her room, the library. The compound had a whole two-story library on site. As soon as Michelle opens the doors she is instantly calmed. 

 

The smell of paper and leather envelops Michelle and it feels like an actual hug to her. Her eyes scan the room she knows like the back of her hand. The shelves line the walls going all the way up to the ceiling of the second-story balcony, the walls of the balcony are also lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves. Each shelf has an attached latter for reaching the higher out of reach shelves. Spiral staircases lead to the upper floor where plush high-backed velvet armchairs sit in pairs with dark wood circular tables are set in the middle. The bottom floor has pairs of chairs set up along with a few couches scattered around the room too. There is a huge stone fireplace set up in the middle of the right wall. 

 

Michelle looks down at the book in her hand double-checking the title. This place didn’t exactly have a librarian so she would have to put it back in the place she had gotten it from. She was kind of the self-appointed librarian here and the only person who would never put the books back where they were supposed to be was Thor, but she couldn’t hold that against him. She taps her fingers against the cover of the book trying to recall the area where she had picked it from. She quickly remembers and heads up one of the many spiral staircases to place the book back in its spot. After the book is safely tucked away. She runs her hand carefully over the bounds of the books, eyes scanning the titles of each one. She draws one from the shelf taking it over to the nearest set of chairs. She flips the book open and begins to read. 

 

Michelle looks up at the sound of the library door being pushed open a very obviously confused Peter looks around the room and then turns his head to look at the closing door behind him. He stands there for a second just looking around the room. Michelle bites the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Then she closes the book using her index finger to keep her spot. She leans over closer to the railing and shouts, “You lost Parker?” She calls down to him. Peter startles hand going over his heart. 

 

“Jeez, Michelle you scared me.” He states dumbly shaking his head. Michelle shrugs standing up to lean against the railing to continue the conversation. “I don’t know how you get around this place without getting totally lost.” 

  
  


“Oh, I got lost every day for a month when I first moved here,” Michelle tells him, she drops the book in her hand on the table next to her before pushing off the railing. She walks over to the spiral staircase closest to her. “But you learn,” She finishes making her way down the staircase coming to a stop in front of Peter. She considers her next words carefully and to buy herself some more time she asks another question. “Where were you even trying to go?” She asks crossing her arms across her chest. 

 

“The kitchen,” Peter replies his head hung in embarrassment. Michelle chuckles lightly shaking her head. 

 

“That is two corridors away Peter,” Michelle points out, but it's light-hearted, she didn't want him to worry that she was judging him because she knew how hard this place could be to get around. Her first week being here she ended up getting locked on the roof for several hours until her dad sent an entire search party after her. “I can give you a tour if you want,” She offers head tilting to the side while she shrugs casually. “Give you all the tips and secret passages,” She continues. 

 

Peter’s eyebrows raise. “This place has secret passages?” He questions curiously.

 

“Well, no,” Michelle admits laughing. “But there are tips.” 

“Will it help me not get lost every time I want a snack?” Peter asks hopefully, he shoves his hands in his pockets rocking back and forth on his heels like a small anxious child. Michelle can’t help but notice how nervous he appears to be. He seemed stressed out about something. But she knows its not her place to ask so she just pretends she doesn’t notice it. 

“Yes, but also I can have them set up a snack bar in your room,” Michelle offers and Peter’s eyes widen in shock. 

“Wait are you serious?” His eyes are so wide that Michelle thinks they may pop straight out of his head. She laughs and nods reassuringly. 

“Yeah I have one in my room,” She tells him with a shrug. Peter actually starts choking and Michelle looks at him with concern she awkwardly leans forward patting his back like it would help him stop sputtering and coughing. He stands back up red in the face and apologizes. “So the tour?” She questions. Peter just nods still trying to catch his breath. She holds for a second thinking about where the best place to start would be. “Well this is the library,” She rotates around gesturing to the room they were in. “A personal favorite of mine and a lot of people will bring books back from where they travel to, there’s a bunch in different languages from all around the galaxy its pretty impressive,” She explains and she can’t help the smile the finds its way to her face and the pitch that her voice rises to as she excitedly explains each section of books. When she turns back around to look at Peter she finds him listening intently and it makes her smile even bigger. Michelle gestures for Peter to follow her out of the room and he obeys. “Also just a quick side note, if I’m in the middle of reading something, don’t try to engage trust me it won’t end well for you,” 

Michelle and Peter exit the library and make their way down the corridor all the way along Michelle points to different doors explaining what they are with Peter asking the occasional question. 

“That one is the kitchen,” Michelle says pointedly with a light laugh Peter chuckles rolling his eyes at her. They go all the way up to the fourth story explaining all the important rooms. They stop in front of a door that says do not enter and Michelle has an internal argument with herself about whether or not to show Peter what was behind this seemingly forbidden door. Peter looks concerned behind her. She decides to take him through the door against her better judgment honestly. She moves to push the door but Peter stops her grabbing her bicep. She falters for just a second and turns to look at him quizzically. 

“There’s a do not enter sign.” Peter points at the ominous sign on the door. Michelle laughs leaning on the threshold of the door. 

“Thank you captain obvious,” She huffs tucking a curl behind her ear. “But I put the sign there.” She confesses with a laugh. Peter cocks an eyebrow at her in question. “It keeps unwanted guests away.” She tells him innocently. 

“So I’m not an unwanted guest?” Peter asks a smirk making an appearance on his face. Michelle instantly regrets her word choices and maybe even showing him this place at all. But something told her she needed to show him this place. Although showing this place was a bit like showing a piece of her soul to someone she barely knew but again she felt like she needed to do this for some reason. 

“I’m putting my trust in you please don’t make me regret this,” Michelle sighs giving Peter a serious look. Peter’s smirk melts away into an equally serious look, he nods reassuring her. “Ok enough of that,” Michelle clears her throat and moves to push open the door immediately revealing a stairwell leading upwards. Peter leans around Michelle eyeing the stairwell suspiciously. “After you,” Michelle offers stepping aside and gesturing up the stairs. Peter directs his suspicions towards Michelle. “Go now please.” She demands a little more forcefully. Peter startles and jumps to the first step. He cautiously makes his way up the stairs Michelle following closely behind him as he makes his way upwards. As they come to the top of the stairs there is another door to be pushed open. Peter hesitates for a second before Michelle nudges him and he pushes the door open. 

As the door swings open Peter stands there visibly confused, this was obviously not what he was expecting to be on the other side of the door. Although she was kind of confused as to what he actually thought it was going to be. On the other side of the door, the first notable thing is the fantastic view. They were on the roof of the west wing of the compound the same wing their room was in. The sun was setting now painting the horizon with hues of pinks and oranges. There were very few clouds in the sky and the sun was still visible at the tree line on the end of the compounds lawn where the grass met the trees of the forest. The view was absolutely breathtaking and the roof was mostly silent. 

“It's my thinking place,” Michelle announces lamely, she tosses her arms up a little in a pathetic little wave as she walks further into the center of the room. “I found this place accidentally when I was like eight,” Michelle explains. “I got locked up here and it took everyone hours to find me,”  She pauses for a moment glancing at Peter. “Not that I minded all that much,” She adds with a careless shrug. Peter trails behind her as she makes her way over to the edge of the roof. The edges were wide, wide enough for a person to sit on without having to have much concern for falling over it. She hops up onto the concrete edge walking along it with ease while Peter watches her carefully. She looks over at him grinning mischievously she was plotting in her mind and Peter was blissfully ignorant. Michelle takes a second taking a deep breath before setting her plan into motion. She places one of her feet on the very end of the ledge and acts as if she is losing her balance. “Oh my god,” She leans even farther back like she’s about to fall over. 

“Michelle!” Peter’s panicked voice comes from her left side, her face is turned away from him and she suppresses the urge to laugh. Peter’s hand immediately shoots out and grabs her forearm pulling her back in so that she resting safely on the inside of the ledge. She turns around to see Peter looking very flustered his face was a bright red and his chest was heaving up and down. Again she suppresses the urge to laugh, but this time he notices and his panicked expression melts into a narrowed glare at her. “You’re so awful,” Peter without thinking goes to shove her but shortly realizes that that probably wouldn’t be the best idea. 

“Oh come on Parker loosen up,” Michelle complains rolling her eyes at Peter. He continues to glare angrily at her. Michelle plops down onto the concrete ledge dangling her feet over the edge looking out over the landscape in front of her. She can feel Peter standing right behind her, she can also feel his hesitation. She swivels a little to look at him and finds his studying her, she swallows thickly before speaking. “Are you going to join me or what?” She questions her tone is teasing. She can visibly see him giving in, his shoulders slump before he hops up onto the ledge carefully taking a seat next to Michelle, their shoulders brush for a quick second and Michelle looks away from him as he sits. 

“So you come up here a lot?” Peter breaks the silence that had fallen over them, a silence that had lasted a little too long to be comfortable. She ponders his question for a second, she actually hadn’t been up here in a while something about the place was starting to feel a little heavy to her so she had started avoiding it but again she felt like she needed to show Peter this place, like it was a place they would both be needing throughout the next few months.

“Uh yeah,” She answers but her answer really isn't that convincing for either of them. “Everyone kind of just pretends they don’t know where I go to when I’m upset or need to think so I just get left to myself up here and it's nice,” Michelle admits softly and Peter nods in understanding. 

“Well, thank you for showing it to me,” Peter speaks softly, so softly that Michelle almost doesn't catch what he’s saying. She doesn’t say anything back to him she just smiles at him. 

Normally she wouldn’t share like this, sharing wasn’t her thing, she kept to herself most of the time and that was fine on the compound because no one ever really asked about her they were always focused on whatever they were doing, it felt weird to share stuff like this with anyone, but she felt like her secrets were going to be okay with Peter. So, for now, she would let him keep them. 

 


End file.
